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Web 2.0 and tourism
Gergely Ráthonyi1, László Várallyai
2
1 University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economic Sciences, Faculty
of Applied Economics and Rural Development, Institute of Economic Analytical Methodology
and Applied Informatics
H-4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi út 138.
e-mail: [email protected] 2 University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economic Sciences, Faculty
of Applied Economics and Rural Development, Institute of Economic Analytical Methodology
and Applied Informatics
H-4032 Debrecen, Böszörményi út 138.
e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract. Development of ICTs and the expansion of the Internet have
changed dramatically in the past few decades. Platform of tourism increasingly
get to the Internet nowadays which is vitally important because tourism is an
information-intense industry. The aim of this study is to show a brief summary
of the significance of the Hungarian tourism with the help of important
statistics. Due to an online survey this paper discusses the knowledge of the
18-25 age group students at our University in connection with Web 2.0
applications and also reveals which information sources are the most important
during the travel decision-making process of the students. Future aim of the
research is to examine the use and adoption of Web 2.0 by tourists and tourism
related organisations in Hungary, because there are only a few researches
dealing with Hungarian travellers’ and tourism related companies’ attitudes of
using this new technology.
Keywords: Hungarian tourism, ICTs, Internet, Web 2.0
1 Introduction
Due to the industrial revolutions different inventions have appeared such as steam-
engine (1769 Watt), steam-railway (1814 Stephenson), automobile (1885 Benz) and
plane (1903 Wright brothers) which have contributed to the evolution of mass
tourism. Undisputedly, tourism is one of the most dynamically and spectacularly
developing economic sectors.
Tourism has developed into one of the world’s most important industrial sectors,
growing faster than the world’s gross domestic product for the last 30 years.
In the past years – except the drop caused by recession – tourism turned into one of
the propulsive industry in Hungary. Thereto it maintains, we make our guests desire
__________________________________Copyright ©by the paper’s authors. Copying permitted only for private and academic purposes. In: M. Salampasis, A. Matopoulos (eds.): Proceedings of the International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Sustainable Agri-production and Environment (HAICTA 2011), Skiathos, 8-11 September, 2011.
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to come back to Hungary and make others to visit Hungary too, we – who live here –
should provide for tourists appropriate level of services. Among the services one of
the most important areas is the information service.
Development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the
expansion of the Internet penetration have changed dramatically in the past few
decades. Platform of tourism increasingly get to the Internet nowadays. Internet has
fundamentally altered the tourism-related information search and destination
selection process. In consequence of these changes new technologies have been
adopted into the tourism industry (Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Internet,
web technology, mobile technology) and this trend is likely to continue into the
future. In recent years social media websites and searching have become an
increasingly dominant mode in travellers’ use of Internet.
Because of the fact that tourism can be considered as one of the most profitable
sectors of the Hungarian economy it is vitally important to make Hungary much
more attractive with the help of developed ICTs.
2 Tourism of Hungary
A decisive index of successfulness in tourism is the number of tourists’ arrivals.
According to World Tourism Organization (UNWTO – specialized agency of United
Nations) assessment the number of international arrivals increased from 534 million
to 935 million arrivals during the period from 1995 to 2010. The incomes deriving
from the commerce also increase as a result of the growing number of tourist arrivals,
which is reflected best by the indicators of the GDP. According to World Travel and
Tourism Councils’ prediction (WTTC) that travel and tourism sector’s contribution
to the GDP will be 9.6% in 2011 and the contribution to the labour market will be
260 million people (8.4% of the whole employment) in the same year (WTTC,
2011). In Hungary this sector contribution to the GDP will 11% and the contribution
to the labour market will 430 000 according to the WTTC’s prediction for 2011.
Forecasts say this tendency will continue in the future, together with the number of
tourists, the volume of their spending, the number of people employed by the tourism
industry and also the role of tourism in the economy.
Next table contains the most important statistics of Hungarian tourism in
connection with the tourist’s arrivals and the financial balance of this sector (KSH,
2010).
Table 1. Main Data on Hungarian Tourism
Main Data on Hungarian Tourism
2009 2010 2010/2009
Arrivals and Guest Nights at Commercial Accommodation
Domestic
Arrivals (000s) 3923 3918 -0.5%
Guest nights (000s) 9490 9672 +1.6%
Avg length of stay (nights) 2.4 2.5 +2.1%
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International
Arrivals (000s) 3228 3386 +4.8%
Guest nights (000s) 9220 9358 +1.4%
Avg length of stay (nights) 2.9 2.8 -3.3%
Balance of Tourism (January–September)
Receipts (million EUR) 3.162 3.170 +0.3%
Expenditure (million EUR) 2.060 1.738 -15.6%
Balance (million EUR) 1.102 1.432 +29.9%
Last time the satellite accounts of tourism (SAT) were made of 2007 in Hungary.
According to them the education of typical sector in tourism correlated to that of
national economy was 5.3%, their gross added value meant 5.9% contribution to the
whole added value of national economy. (KSH, 2010) Tourism has been one of the
most significantly developing sectors of economy since 2000-2001. In the
globalizing world economy tourism is such a sector that can be competitive at
international level as the facilities of our country suit to the products of tourism for
example:
• One of Hungary’s top tourist destinations is Lake Balaton, the largest
freshwater lake in Central Europe, with a number of 1.2 million visitors in 2008.
• The most visited region is Budapest, the Hungarian capital attracted 3.61
million visitors in 2008.
• Hungary was the world’s 26th
most visited country in 2007. The Hungarian
spa culture is world-famous, with thermal baths of all sorts and over 50 spa hotels
located in many towns.
As we see tourism plays an important role in the country, so it is essential that
developed ICTs (web 2.0) be used in tourism sector. Unfortunately these types of
researches are not available in Hungary so it is hard to give an up-to-date example.
Next I represent the Hungarian Internet penetration. Then we give examples some of
the most popular social media and the concept of web 2.0 applications.
3 Usage of Internet
Come to a travelling decision and organise a trip tourists have to collect a lot of
information to be able to make their best decision. Information may derive from the
Internet or other conventional media – such as prospects, brochures, newspapers,
guidebooks, radio, television or travel agencies. According to several Hungarian
(Gyarmatiné and Rényi, 2009; Grotte Judit, 2010 ) and other foreign (Buhalis and
Jun, 2011; Lo et al., 2010; Xiang and Gretzel, 2010) researches results clearly
support the primary importance of Internet in organising a trip. Most important
travel-related searching sources are the online search engines, official websites of the
destinations and travel blogs and forums.
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Currently, there are 2 billion Internet users in the world which is three times
greater than in 2000. In Europe (EU-27) Internet access is about 60 % of the whole
population that is naturally meant to be an average (Internet World Stats, 2009).
According to recent findings of the NRC Informationline Company, computer and
Internet access at Hungarians’ home have produced significant growth within the last
five years – 55% of the households has computer and 51% of the households is
connected to the Internet in Hungary in 2010. In Hungary the Internet penetration is
62% in 2010 (Internet World Stats, 2010). The Internet is still considered a
‘youngish’ medium which is supported by the fact that while 84% of people between
15 and 24 years of age uses the Internet regularly, in the 25-34 age group the
proportion is merely 67% as we see in the following figure (Figure 1.). In the over-50
age group the ratio is significantly lower than the average – the penetration is only
21% (NRC, 2010).
Figure 1. Proportion of regularly internet users in different age groups
4 The Web 2.0
Tourism (travel and holiday) is one of the most costly items purchased regularly by
households around the world, and it signifies a remarkable proportion of households’
annual budget. Internet has changed tourism consumer behaviour dramatically.
Customers search travel-related information and make online purchases (online air-
ticket bookings, online room reservations etc.) themselves instead of asking travel
agencies to take on this process for them.
The evolution of the Internet, as well as the constant evolution of society has lead
to conceive new forms of communication, thus, new ways of media. Traditional
forms of media are not anymore effective, because consumer has changed. The new
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consumer is more sophisticated so he needs and requires more specialized media
where he can take information from. This new type of media is called Social Media
(Buhalis and Law, 2008; Shanker, 2008).
In my opinion, Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) give an excellent brief definition for
this term: social media as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the
concept of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-created content
(video clips, photos, texts etc.). Web 2.0 is providing consumers with countless tools
to find, and design, not just the cheapest trip, but the perfect trip. Before dealing with
these media we should clarify the concept of Web 2.0. According to the Wikipedia,
Web 2.0 allows users to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media
dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community. Web 2.0
describes the second generation of web-based services which are interactive, context-
rich, and easy to use (O’Really, T. 2007).
Travel 2.0 is a term that represents the concept of Web 2.0 that applies the world’s
largest industry: travel and tourism. Tourism related topics are among the most
popular issues in this environment, for instance, travel plans, destinations and hotels
reviews, tourist guides, and suggestions for restaurants or exhibitions.
The following figure shows the most important platforms of social media, which
are encourage users and travellers to post and share their travel experiences,
comments, opinions to serve as a source of information for other users (Xiang and
Gretzel, 2009).
Figure 2. Key social media platforms
From this figure, we try to highlighted, described and analysed the main platforms
(blogs, social networks, video sharing and photo sharing) which are the major
sources of information for tourists.
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4.1 Blogs and Forums
Web log, blog or blogging is a type of website/platform formed by entries or posts,
which are made in journal style which often included photos or link and displayed in
reverse chronological order. A typical blog combines text, images, links to other
blogs, Web pages, and media related to its topic. For example, very well known
blogging platforms for tourists are the web pages of Igougo and Tripadvisor
(Wikipedia, Camilleri et al., 2007; Nagy, 2010).
Forums are those platforms where users can write short messages about a topic of
interest and wait for other user’s answers.
Gretzel and Yoo (2008) have shown that “reviews play an important role in the
trip planning process for those who actively read them. They provide ideas, make
decisions easier, add fun to the planning process and increase confidence by reducing
risk making it easier to image what places will be like”. Thereafter all the platforms
where tourists can express themselves, they will be used by other tourists to collect
information from in order to get ideas and reduce the complexity of the decisions
making process (Xiang and Gretzel, 2009). An interesting study has shown that 56% of American tourists seeking for
opinions of travellers who has visited the destination before, during the booking process of their accommodation. In 2008 another survey claims that user created content is used by 40% of online travel researchers to determine whether they visit a destination. Within this 40% ratings were the most popular (used by 58%), followed by reviews and recommendations (49%). Next come user created photo content (18%) and friend’s social networking websites (18%). Other travellers’ blogs were consulted by 12% and user generated video by 5% (Highland business research, 2008)
Universal McCann, 2010 latest “The Socialisation of Brands” survey has revealed
changes in the way that people are using the Internet to create and share information.
In the next figure we can see the usage of different blogs from 2008 to 2010. Almost
every examined area – especially tourism – has increased steadily as we can see on
the third figure. Nowadays approximately every third of the people read travel related
blogs for getting trustworthy information from fellow travellers.
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Figure 3. Usage of different blogs (2008-2010)
4.2 Social Network Site
According to Boyd and Ellison (2007) drafting, social network sites (SNSs) are those
platforms which provide the users to construct a public or semi public profile within
a community system. These platforms allow users to articulate a list of users to
whom they share any connection and establish or maintain connections with others.
Another interpretation of social networking sites according to Buhalis and Jun
(2011): a virtual area where Internet users can establish their own profile, or home
page, on which they can write blogs, post pictures, videos and share their ideas.
One of the most important social networking sites in Hungary is Facebook. This
site has over 500 million active users worldwide and more than 3 million users in
Hungary where almost half of the members of the community are in the age between
13 and 25 (http://www.socialbakers.com).
4.3 Video and Photo Sharing
Video or photo sharing platforms allow users to upload video or photo files, store
them and share them with other users. Examples of video sharing platforms are the
worldwide known Youtube; and photo sharing: Picasa, Fotolog, Flirk.
According to an interesting study which revealed that 90% of pleasure travellers
take photographs and that 45% of them posted their photographs online.
Király (2011) refers to a study made by Skyscannar which examined that how
social network sites impact travelling attitudes. The result was interesting which
claims that half of the participants select their next holiday destination by their
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friends’ shared photographs. Furthermore, this study also reveals that 88% of the
users always look at their friend’s holiday pictures. Murphy et al. (2010) examined the online sharing attitudes in general (video, text,
photo etc.). 40-50% of the respondents frequently share texts and pictures while only 3% post videos. Respondents are more likely to share content on their own social media website than on a media sharing or review site.
All of these Social Media platforms offer opportunities for users to express
themselves upload, interact and share information with other users. They constitute
an immense source of information where users can gather information or even
participate. Thereafter all the platforms where tourists can express themselves, they
will be used by other tourists to gather for information from in order to take ideas,
reduce the complexity of decisions and make the process less tedious.
5 Methods
In this study I represent the main advance conclusion from my questionnaire. Data
were collected through online questionnaire using LimeSurvey which is an open
source programme. One of the main advantages of online questionnaire is that with
selection of the appropriate question type the filling is much more controlled and
contains less logical contradiction so the evaluating of questionnaire is developed. In
addition to this it is a more cost efficient solution. The questionnaire was filled by
students from different faculties of the Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economic
Sciences of the University of Debrecen (male 40%, female 60%). The filling is based
on voluntariness and the sample size is 235. Due to the attributes narrow scope of the
sample, the survey is not representative, but probably a good starting point of our
future research and it can attract the attention of destination managers and tourist
experts. We use descriptive analyses to show the basic characteristics of the
responses.
6 Results
This section is divided into two parts; first we examine the knowledge of students in
connection with web 2.0 applications and secondly we examine students who
travelled alone or helped their friends or relatives during the travel-related
information search in connection with the same topic.
6.1 Usage of Web 2.0 Applications Among Students
Figure 4. represents those web 2.0 applications which are used by students on their
PC. SNSs (Facebook etc.) are the most popular medium with it’s almost 90% and
online video (Youtube etc.) watching (76%) comes to second.
34
We can see that students use applications according to their age-group like
participant at a SNS, using applications of SNS, watching videos on different video
sharing size or the conventional media (reading news, listening radio).
Figure 4. Usage of web 2.0 applications among students (18-25 years)
This age-group less use different blogs (<12%) like Twitter. In addition to this
they are less active as regards configuration of social content (<12%) (write blogs,
editing photo, upload videos). During the survey it turned out that every 4th
student
use internet by the help of mobile phone.
Figure 5. shows the usage of web 2.0 applications on mobile phones among
students (20% of the respondents). As regards the applications the ratio is the similar
like by computers. Nowadays mobile penetration is 120% in Hungary and every
tenth of mobiles are smart phones. This development allows users to access internet
on their phones and it will expand the opportunities in the tourism sector as well.
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Figure 5. Usage of web 2.0 applications on mobile phones among students (18-25 age)
Figure 6. demonstrates that 75% of students who use internet on their mobile
phones access internet several times a day. Approximately 7% of students use their
phones regularly for editing or watching their personal social network site, or
searching information on the internet.
Figure 6. How often students use web 2.0 applications on their mobile phones
6.2 Web 2.0 Applications in Travel-related Information Search
Next we analyzed what kind of applications influence students by their decision
making in connection with travel. 75% of students have travelled alone or helped
their friends or relatives during the travel-related information search. As regards
destination, 50% of respondent travelled in order to have a rest and 20% of students
visited friends or relatives.
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Figure 7. represents what kind of sources are used to select the destination. We
can see that almost everybody use internet by travel-related information search. The
other huge information source is the family’s or friend’s report. The use of
conventional media (newspaper, prospectus, travel agency) was decreased these
days.
Figure 7. Sources of destination selection process
Students who collect information from the internet to the selection of destination
numbers of time use 2-10 web pages (83%). 11% of respondent use more than 10
pages and 6% of students use only 1 page.
Next we analyzed how measure user generated contents influence students by the
selection of destination. They had to grade on a 5-grade scale, 1: it is not
determining, 5: it is absolutely determining.
1. 80% of respondents are influenced by photos, videos which they search
on different social web pages;
2. 45% of students read others’ experience and criticism on different blogs;
3. 48% of them read publication of online media;
4. 58% of them allow for experiences of acquaintance;
5. 64% of students search information on the own web sites of suppliers
(travel agency, hotel).
Finally we analyzed that according to gender is there a significant difference by
statements above (Chi-square test). It turned out that 1, 2, 5 statements were typical
of female but by other cases the difference was not significant.
7 Summary
Web 2.0 and Travel 2.0 may have a huge impact on the travel and tourism industry.
Social media platforms are the new media. They offer tourists the opportunity to
express themselves, share contents, ideas and experiences which other tourists may
37
use as a reference in their travel planning and which is greatly appreciated among
tourists due to the high needs of information which they require. Online communities
have a strong influence on consumer behaviour.
Our survey demonstrates that students (18-25 age) use internet increasingly in
order to get travel-related information. 90% of respondents use internet by
destination-select process. Less than 30% of them get information from guide books,
travel agency and newspaper. 80% of students are influenced by photos, videos
which they search on different social web pages. After the travel 64% of them share
their photos or write on different media about their experience. This result clearly
shows that web 2.0 applications have impact on travel decision making process.
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